obrentharris 

I recently came across this old aluminum bottle in a state of disrepair. It had been languishing in a shed for many years.
Looking at old Tour de France photos it appears that aluminum bottles disappeared from the peloton in 1954 to be replaced by plastic.

As I received it: The bottle is dented but water tight. The cork has disintegrated and the aluminum cap fallen off:



A little polishing with Mothers Polish brought out a nice subtle luster. I think the trick is knowing when to stop. I suppose I could have polished it to a high gloss but I take pleasure in the patina of past use. The dents and scratches will be right at home on my well worn Allegro.



I was able to source a size 22 cork from a company called Widgetco. The cork was a little too tall but this was easily remedied with a fine-tooth Japanese pull saw.




I gently spread the lip of the aluminum cap with my thumbs until it fit over the top of the cork. To re-crimp the cap I pushed in each of the grooves of the cap lip with a cold chisel, working all the way around the cap for a nice snug fit.





I would appreciate any information anyone has regarding the age or country of manufacture of this bottle. None of my bikes are quite as old as this bottle I think, but the 1961 Allegro Special will do until something older comes along.



Brent

merziac

I love it when this happens, inspiration strikes, a simple part is found, a little finesse, skill and determination is applied and voila, a very cool thing rides on.

So cool, well done.

tiger1964 

Very useful topic! I have one of these and it really needs a new cork -- now I know what size to get.

I polished mine a lot more than that... got carried away. And the cage is a Simplex Tour de France one made up of wire; I had it chrome plated. Maybe I should photograph it.

How is your cork retained? On mine, there was string through a tiny hole in the cap, to a string loop around the neck of the bottle. I have no idea if original or not.

obrentharris 

Please post some photos of yours. I'd enjoy seeing them.
My stopper does not appear to have a leash of any sort.
Brent

tiger1964 

OK, here you go. Polished on the buffing wheel; alas, some scratches were deep enough that I was not able to readily remove them -- and using the bottle in a metal cage like this will invariably scratch it more. Eh, it's going on a bike that probably will not see a lot of miles anyway.

I almost hated to 'restore' it, the guy who gave it to me in the 1970's had apparently used it back in the day, and his name was painted on the side. That's gone now. I guess in a race if you discarded an empty bottle to be replaced by a fresh one, you might want to be able to identify what's yours later?

Once I replace the cork and polish the cap, instead of string I could use, hmm, plastic? Maybe fine stranded cable (where to get that)?

cv350

Wow, outstanding. Thanks for documenting the project and sharing it.

merziac

I vote for string/twine as that was probably what it had originally, might not have been white though.

obrentharris 

@tiger1964 that bottle and cage are beautiful!
Which bike are they going on?
Brent

tiger1964 

Thanks! And the cage clamps took well to rechroming but they are not in the photo. And "rechroming" on cage and clamps is a misnomer, I think; I see no evidence that they were anything but raw steel.

As much as I wanted to put this on the Gitane, it's reserved for the Drysdale; I need to check with my brother, but 99% sure he got the bike from the father-in-law of the guy that gave me the bottle and cage -- how's that for Full Circle? Alas, I kinda stopped on the Drysdale until I am more comfortable with the dry-application, rub-to-transfer decals I got from SSSink, which are beautiful but I find difficult to use. So, it sits. I started up 5 topics on the winter projects (Palo Alto, Gitane, Falcon, Zeus, Drysdale) last autumn, you could find a picture of at least the frame there.

merziac

A leash for yours could go around the groove of the crimp on the cap and then around the neck.

iab

You didn't happen to find that Allez cap somewhere Kila and Hot Springs? That's where I lost one.

Early in the Cino.

Cino 105 by iabisdb, on Flickr



After the Cino.

Frejus027 by iabisdb, on Flickr

juvela

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two models of ribbed aluminum bottle shown on this Gentil of Paris catalogue page dated MCMXXXIX -


(part numbers seen with listings are those of catalogue publisher - not of product manufacturer)

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